Urban search and rescue gives Bailey the cat another life

March 30, 2014

Updated March 31, 2014 12:12 p.m.

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Bailey, a 13-year-old housecat owned by Robert and Doris Meyers, was saved by the Irvine-based “Heavy Rescue 6” team, which had to cut through a cinder block wall to un-wedge the feline. COURTESY OF DORIS MEYERS

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Firefighters rescued Bailey on Sunday. COURTESY OF OCFA

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Robert Meyers of Irvine holds Bailey after the cat was rescued Sunday. COURTESY OF OCFA

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Bailey, a house cat owned by Robert and Doris Meyers, was found wedged between two cinder block walls along the back of the owner's house in Irvine. The fire department was able to cut through the wall and rescue the cat. COURTESY OF DORIS MEYERS

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Bailey had wedged himself between two cinder block fences along the property's back wall. ONSCENE.TV

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Firefighters pull Bailey to safety. ONSCENE.TV

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Robert Meyers of Irvine holds Bailey after the cat was rescued Sunday. ONSCENE.TV

Bailey, a 13-year-old housecat owned by Robert and Doris Meyers, was saved by the Irvine-based “Heavy Rescue 6” team, which had to cut through a cinder block wall to un-wedge the feline. COURTESY OF DORIS MEYERS

IRVINE – Most 13-year-old cats might be running low on lives, but it appears a heavy-set tabby named Bailey was saving a few for a county fire department-aided rescue Sunday.

It started with a wedged cat, and ended with the Police Department, animal rescue unit and the county’s “Heavy Rescue 6” firefighting team sent out to investigate, sedate and eventually set free the fidgety feline after five hours of entrapment.

“He’s a lucky cat, and we’re lucky the fire department could save him,” said owner Robert Meyers in a phone interview from his Irvine home Sunday evening.

A treasured pet to Robert and his wife, Doris, the large gray cat was in the couple’s backyard at 10 a.m. for his normal morning sunbathing when apparently curiosity got the best of him.

“I went out back to call him in and he usually comes right away, but this time I couldn’t find him,” Robert Meyers, 76, said. After a few more minutes of waiting, the couple said they could hear meowing – but no cat was in sight.

Robert Meyers followed the sound and quickly realized that Bailey had wedged himself between two cinder block fences along the back side of the property. One wall was about six feet high, and the next wall just six inches behind it was about 10 feet tall – separating the backyard from Yale Avenue behind it.

“I tried to entice him to come up, but the more he moved, the farther down he got wedged in there,” Meyers said.

By noon, they had called the Irvine Police, which sent out an Animal Services unit. After a few failed attempts to lasso and pull out Bailey, the fire department’s Irvine-based Urban Search and Rescue team called “Heavy Team 6” was called in, wielding a specialized concrete-cutting saw they used to cut a hole along the base of the wall and free the stuck cat.

By 2:45 p.m., firefighters were able to shimmy the cat loose through the hole and back into its owners’ arms. After a quick stop at the vet, the cat was released with only minor abrasions from the incident, and still recovering from the sedative it was given to keep it calm during the ordeal.

According to Meyers, this was Bailey’s first real run-in with mischief.

“We found him as a kitten deserted by his mother, and we had to feed him from eye droppers and baby bottles,” Meyers said. “He was an outside/inside cat, but he’ll be inside from now on.”

As far as the rescue, Orange County Fire Authority spokesman Steve Concialdi called it great practice for the specialized unit.

“When we have an earthquake, or other major disaster, they’ll be the ones called in to save human beings,” Concialdi said. “This cat is like a member of the family to the owners, and it was a great rescue by our team.”

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